For my 162 class, we were asked to create a detailed scouting report of 5 different players. My 5 players were pitchers. In this process we had to create a list of statistics in which to measure the player’s skill. We also looked up their salaries and what they are due to make. All in all it was nice to study sports and use it as a school project.

Basic Stats Analysis

Wins vs loss (example – 4wins and 3 losses is 4/3)
Innings pitched is IP
WHIP is Walks and hits divided by the amount of innings they have pitched
ERA is earned run average, how often they gave up runs

Player Biographies –

Cj Wilson : CJ is 32 years old and pitches for the Los Angeles Angels. He is a 2 time all star, so his salary is well deserved from the past, but he isn’t quite living up to his billing, at least so far this year. He is still a very good pitcher who at any point during the season could get hot and be a catalyst for the Angels playoff success. It’s hard to compare him to other pitchers I’m analyzing, because he’s a closer and not a starter.

Alex Cobb : Alex is a young 25 year old pitcher for the Tampa Bay Devil Rays. At this point in his career, he is a bargain for his team making only a half million dollars this year. He clearly still has some kinks to work at as a young pitcher, but also has an extremely high ceiling. This was exemplified in his most recent outing, where he threw 13 strikeouts, but also gave up 3 runs in almost 5 innings. Once these flaws and inconsistencies are worked out of his games, he is primed to be an elite pitcher in the league.

Adam Wainwright : Adam is a 31 year old pitcher for the St Louis Cardinals. In the past he has won 2 World Series with clutch pitching, and has been a gold glover and an all star. In 2011 he had major elbow surgery in 2011, so he is a slight risk injury wise. He has posted 2 near complete games this season and has been lights out, definitely playing up to his contract.

Carlos Villanueva : Carlos is a 29 year old pitcher for the Chicago Cubs. In his most recent outing against the Colorado Rockies he performed awfully giving up 5 runs in just the first 3 innings. It’s early in the season, so its hard to judge his season so far. However, he is pitching very poorly, hardly even earning his low-mid level contract. He will probably return to the Cubs next season, but if he doesn’t start improving, he is either doomed to the bullpen or pitching outside of the MLB.

Felix Hernandez : King Felix is a 27 year old pitcher for the Seattle Mariners. Widely regarded as one of the top 5 pitchers in baseball, he got one of the biggest contract extensions in the history of the MLB last summer. He even threw a perfect game in 2012. This season, he is an extremely pricey pitcher, but so far is still performing at an elite level. He is still a relatively young arm, and consistently throws very long efficient games for the Mariners.

Top 5 in order of salary.

1. Alex Cobb, 502,000$ each of next 2 years
2. Carlos Villanueva, 5,000,000$ each of next 2 years
3. CJ WIlson, 11,000,000$ this year, then 16,000,000, 18,000,000, and 20,000,000 next 3 years after that
4. Adam Wainwright, 12,000,000$ this year, then 19,500,000$ for the next 5 years
5. Felix Hernandez, 19,860,000$ this year, then over the next 6 years to 27,000,000$

Top 5 in order of Statistics/performance (2013)

1. Adam Wainwright, 5-2 2.30 era 58.2ip .989 whip
2. Felix Hernandez, 5-2 1.53 era 64.2 ip .928 whip
3. Alex Cobb, 4-2 3.09 era 46.2 ip 1.221 whip
4. CJ Wilson, 3-2 3.88 era 48.2 ip 1.541 whip
5. Carlos Villanueva, 1-3 3.93 era 52.2 ip 1.139 whip

Top 5 in order of who the Falcons should buy in the opinion of HP…

1. Alex Cobb

2. Felix Hernandez
3. Adam Wainwright
4. CJ Wilson
5. Carlos Villanueva

Final Analysis :

I would recommend getting Alex Cobb by a landslide as the first option due to his obvious talent as a pitcher. He has the ERA and WHIP of a good pitcher (as displayed in my graph), and while obviously he still has some flaws that young players have, he has a lot of potential. His price is also extraordinarily appealing, he is not even close to his full potential. He is only worth 500,000 dollars next year. This is the cheapest player on the list who has the potential to be one of the best pitchers in the league and is worth taking a risk on. I would definitely advise the Falcons to act quickly before other teams offer him enormous contracts.

Next I would hope to get Felix Hernandez, as he is obviously one of the top 5 pitchers in baseball. However, he’s extraordinarily expensive so we’d have to be very lucky in order to lure him out of Seattle, and be able to sustain his enormous contract.

Adam Wainwright would be my next choice. He is a top pitcher in the game, similar to Felix, however he has a history of injuries and is also 31 years old. Like the Mariners with Hernandez, it would be hard to convince the Cardinals to let him go.

CJ Wilson is my fourth option, he is a great closer for the Angels. Like everyone except Cobb, he is very pricey and is not a contract we should offer him just to close games for us.

Lastly, Villanueva might be the second cheapest, but I believe his career is plummeting into irrelevancy. His pitching numbers are very average and he is throwing very poorly for the Cubs this year.

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